ONIONS. 



irregular form, and is planted in Septem- 

 ber, and starts early in the spring — ear- 

 lier than the weeds. They do not have 

 to be planted but once. Onion seed 

 raised here is much better than for- 

 eign ; only about fifty per cent, of the 

 latter will grow. Sets may be planted 

 about the middle of May, three inches 

 apart ; they give a great deal of work. 



In preparing the ground for onions, 

 Mr. Gregory recommended the use of a 

 gang plough and Meeker harrow, which 

 does the work of raking in half the time 

 required to do it by hand ; the competi- 

 tion is such that we must economize in 

 every possible way. 



As to manures, onions are great feed- 

 ers and like something to select from. 

 Mr. Gregory advised applying at least 

 ten cords of barnyard manure per acre, 

 or its equivalent ; farmers in the vicinity 

 of Boston use twenty cords of stable 

 manure. But he thought it better to use 

 half the quantity of manure, and the 

 other half in commercial fertilizers, or 

 cheaper yet, to use all fertilizer. The 

 latter can be applied at any period 

 of growth, but there is danger from 

 using a phosphate continuously. In 

 Bermuda, the onion growers use part 

 sea manure and part commercial fertili- 

 zers A neighbor of Mr. Gregory uses 

 ten cords of a mixture of barnyard ma- 

 nure, sea manure and nightsoil, a very 

 concentrated manure, probably equal to 

 double the quantity of ordinary barn- 

 yard manure. Mr. Gregory recom- 

 mended the application of three hun- 

 dred pounds of nitrate of soda per acre ; 

 or, if the crop looks feeble, a complete 

 fertilizer may be used. In all farming 

 a good deal of manure seems to be mis- 

 applied, and he suggested the use of less 

 manure and more nitrate of soda. 



In a crop of 700 bushels of onions 

 there will be 58 lbs. of potash and 53 

 lbs. of phosphoric acid. A cord of aver- 



age stable manure, weighing 4500 lbs., 

 will contain 18 lbs. of potash and 22 lbs. 

 of phosphoric acid, and 20 cords would 

 contain 360 lbs. of the former and 440 

 of the latter. If this quantity of manure 

 IS applied every year for twenty five years 

 we shall have put into the soil 9000 lbs. 

 of potash and 11,000 lbs. of phosphoric 

 acid But the crop during this time 

 will have contained only 1450 lbs. of the 

 former and 1325 of the latter, leaving in 

 the soil an excess of 7550 lbs. of potash 

 and 9675 lbs of phosphoric acid. These 

 substances will, if the land is ploughed 

 eight inches deep, be distributed through 

 227 cords of soil per acre, which would 

 give an average of 33 lbs. potash and 42 

 lbs. phosphoric acid per cord, so that 

 the whole soil would average more than 

 half again as rich in potash as average 

 barn manure (that is, in the proportion 

 of 33 to 18), and nearly twice as rich in 

 phosphoric acid (in the proportion of 42 

 to 22). This soil would itself have be- 

 come manure, and as a dressing for grass 

 land would be worth half as much again 

 as barn manure. The speaker suggested 

 using no barn manure, and nitrogen only 

 in forms that will meet the wants of the 

 crop as it comes along. This should be 

 done two or three times during its 

 growth. 



There are three classes of seed sowers 

 — the finger- stirrers, force-feeders and 

 agitators. The speaker preferred the 

 first two. There is one that plants two 

 rows at a time. Two men will produce 

 very different results with the same ma- 

 chine or with seed from the same bag. 

 In Connecticut the seed is sometimes 

 dropped in bunches, alternating with 

 carrots ; the carrots then have an oppor- 

 tunity to make a late growth. From 

 three and a half to eight pounds of seed 

 is sown on an acre ; four pounds is about 

 the usual quantity, but four and a half 

 or five pounds may be used on new soil, 



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